Garrison Keillor and the second coming

Currents in Theology and Mission, Oct, 2005 by Craig A. Satterlee

Twenty-fifth Sunday after Pentecost--Thanksgiving Day, Series A First Sunday in Advent--Fourth Sunday in Advent, Series B

Two words uttered from any pulpit automatically cause me to stop listening--"Garrison Keillor." Yes, Garrison Keillor. I developed an aversion some years ago, during the weekend I traveled from upstate New York to New York City to preside at a wedding. My driver, whom I can only describe as a Lake Wobegon fanatic, played tapes of A Prairie Home Companion nonstop there and back. In two days of travel I heard thirty-four installments; we repeated my driver's favorites. He quoted lines. The water torture effect (Drip! Drip! Drip!) that any mention of Keillor has on me compounded over the years as preachers, determined to become Keillor-like storytellers, inserted the previous Saturday's tale from Lake Wobegon into their sermons, supposing that a room full of Lutherans hadn't heard it the night before.

I am not disparaging Garrison Keillor. After two days in a car listening nonstop to tapes of my own sermons, I would most likely never preach again! The multitude that spends Saturday evenings glued to radios, listening to NPR, not to mention the Lake Wobegon Store my wife dragged me into during our recent visit to the Mall of America, make clear that it's my problem, not Keillor's.

As we end one liturgical year and begin another, the appointed texts invite us to utter two other words from the pulpit that will affect some of our hearers the way "Garrison Keillor" affects me. Those words are "second coming." Yes, second coming. Surely, many in our pews are eager to hear about Christ's return. They watch the signs and decipher the codes in order to determine the day and the hour, which, Scripture tells us, only the Father knows (Mt 24:36). Others let the experts do the deciphering and decoding for them so that they are not left behind. For still others, talk of the second coming is something they simply do not want to hear, so they stop listening. These persons are not afraid of the future or unconcerned about tomorrow. On the contrary, they are occupied with the world and their lives, deeply concerned with the here and now. These hearers wait for Jesus to return and make the world right rather than snatch the righteous out of the world. Not worried about being left behind, they are concerned about all of those people, about how much of creation, both church and society have left behind. For these folk, peppering our preaching with parousia and preparedness will cause them to automatically stop listening if there is too little "already" and too much "not yet." So how do we preach apocalyptic texts and Advent pericopes so that people will listen? Do we conclude that listening is our hearers' problem and move on?

Carey Gardiner Mack, who offers this series of Preaching Helps, looks at the readings and asks "Where is the grace?" Carey admits that grace is sometimes hard to find, and then she sets out to discover it. Carey finds grace in Jesus' parable about the bridesmaids, because there is, in fact, enough light for all. There is enough room for everyone to greet Jesus. At other places in these readings she finds grace in the realization that Jesus is as concerned with our societies as he is with our souls. And in these weeks from Thanksgiving to Christmas, Carey finds grace in the call to enjoy creation rather than consume it.

Carey describes herself using places--"Watertown (as in Wisconsin), Valparaiso (as in University), Chicago, Boone (as in North Carolina), Chicago, Watertown, Ann Arbor...." In Watertown, Carey was born, baptized, introduced to public radio, and educated, and began more than a passing interest in all things U2. In Valparaiso, she earned a B.A. in American Studies in 1996, received the Outstanding Leadership and Service Award, and joined the ELCA. "In Chicago," Carey writes, "I went to seminary. Enough said." (As a seminary professor, I wonder what that says about the lasting impact of my ministry!) In Boone, she served as a Horizon intern at Grace Lutheran Church and the Lutheran Campus Ministry for Appalachian State University. After graduating from LSTC in 2000 and ordination in 2001, Carey moved to Ann Arbor and served her first call at Zion Lutheran Church. She played softball with John Rollefson (a recent contributor to Preaching Helps), got a gold membership to the Michigan Theater (a place I frequented long ago), and participated in the Pastor Theologian Program through Princeton Seminary's Center for Theological Inquiry. In 2005 she completed both a unit of CPE at St. Joseph's Hospital in Ann Arbor and Intentional Interim Ministry training. She currently serves as interim pastor at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Monroe, Michigan.

As I see it, the preaching challenge these weeks is to find the grace in apocalyptic texts and Advent pericopes and to preach it in such a way that our hearers do not shut down at the sound of "second coming." That the Christians gathered around these readings on Sunday mornings outnumber the multitudes glued to their radios on Saturday nights suggests to me that grace is to be found here. What is the grace of Christ's second coming for you, your family, your congregation and community? How does Christ's grace-full promise to come someday impact your life today? How are you going to preach it? How do you suppose Garrison Keillor would preach it? If he tells us on the radio, please let me know. I must confess, I won't be listening.